Card shirks

Martin's back with some statistical gems...

Every week on skysports.com he answers your questions and offers you statistical gems from what he's seen as he tours the world commentating for Sky Sports.

Sky Sports' voice of football and his back-up team of experts want your queries on all things statistical and historical from the beautiful game.

Lennon: celebrates the 123rd goal in north London derbies in the Premier League

So if you have spotted something from a match or have been stumped by a pub quiz question, simply email skysportsclub@bskyb.com and he will do his best to help.

Tyler's teaser

But as usual we'll kick off with a question for YOU. Click play to see this week's Tyler's Teaser.

Martin's Starting Stat

I was at the 42nd Premier League North London derby on Sunday to witness the ninth Tottenham win (there have been 17 draws and 16 Arsenal victories). It is only the seventh time in the last 20 derbies the team that scored first won the match and it will be 100 years this year since Arsenal moved to North London from South London which started the rivalry.

It was the 400th home game for Tottenham in the Premier League and their 200th Premier League win at White Hart Lane. The result also saw Spurs go 12 games unbeaten, which is their best run in the Premier League era. However, they still haven't had a penalty this season and haven't had one in the league at White Hart Lane since a 3-3 draw with Arsenal in April 2011 when Rafael van der Vaart scored.

Wojciech Szczesny played in his100th Arsenal game and also the 100th league game of his career, having played in 28 for Brentford. Arsenal conceded two away from home for only the fourth time this season (there were also 2-1 defeats at Man Utd and Chelsea and a 5-2 win at Reading). They haven't conceded three in an away Premier League game since January 2012 when they lost 3-2 at Swansea.

Gareth Bale scored for the fifth consecutive Tottenham Premier League game, equalling a Spurs record with Robbie Keane, Teddy Sheringham and Rafael van der Vaart. He also became the first Welshman to score more than 15 goals in a Premier League season, two days after St David's Day, overtaking the 15 scored by Mark Hughes, Dean Saunders and John Hartson. Since the birth of his daughter Alba Violet - so that's another AVB - he's been unstoppable!

BEST GAMES FOR GOALSDear Martin. I heard that there have been more goals in North London derbies than in games between any other teams in Premier League history? Is this true and which other games have had lots of goals historically? Liverpool v Newcastle always seems to end up as a goal fest! Keep up the good work. Andrew C (Liverpool fan)

MARTIN SAYS: Opta's stats show that you're correct. The North London Derby has produced more goals than any other fixture in Premier League history with the 42 meetings yielding 124 goals.

The three goals scored by Arsenal and Tottenham on Sunday saw them stretch clear of Everton v Manchester United games as the Premier League fixture with the most goals. At the start of play those two fixtures were level on 121 goals apiece.

You're also correct to highlight Liverpool v Newcastle games, which have yielded the fourth highest tally of goals in Premier League history.

Fixtures with the most goals in Premier League history:

Team 1

Team 2

Goals

Arsenal

Tottenham

124

Everton

Manchester United

121

Manchester United

Newcastle

117

Newcastle

Tottenham

117

Liverpool

Newcastle

116

Arsenal

Everton

115

Arsenal

Chelsea

114

Manchester United

Tottenham

114

Liverpool

Manchester United

112

Liverpool

Tottenham

112

A lot of those fixtures involve teams who have been ever-present in the Premier League so we were also interested to see which Premier League fixtures had the best goals-per game record. We asked Opta to look at fixtures that had been played at least 10 times in the Premier League and it turns out that Blackburn v Nottingham Forest is the best with an average of four goals per game (including the 1995/96 season when Rovers won their meetings 7-0 and 5-1). Not far away is Manchester City v Norwich, which has yielded 3.82 goals per game - and that could improve when the teams meet in the final day of this season.

Fixtures with the most goals per game in Premier League history:

Blackburn

Nottingham Forest

10

4.00

Manchester City

Norwich

11

3.82

Manchester City

Wimbledon

14

3.79

Chelsea

Derby

14

3.71

Manchester United

Nottingham Forest

10

3.70

Chelsea

Sunderland

23

3.70

Everton

QPR

11

3.64

Newcastle

West Brom

13

3.62

Derby

Middlesbrough

12

3.58

Manchester United

Southampton

28

3.57

BOTTOM'S UPDear Martin, Brighton fan Casey asked if there had been instances of clubs sliding from the top to the bottom tier of English football in consecutive seasons. I was wondering if any club had done the opposite of this and been promoted from the bottom tier to the top tier in consecutive seasons? Rob (Manchester United fan)

MARTIN SAYS: The chaps at Opta have detailed the quickest rises to top tier since the introduction of fourth tier in 1958/59 and I have outlined those for you below.

No side has ever gone from the bottom division to the top division in successive seasons, but two teams have managed to climb all the way to the top in just five seasons. The first team to do that was Swansea City who took the following path from Division Four to Division One:

1977/78: 3rd in Division Four 1978/79: 3rd in Division Three1979/80: 12th in Division Two 1980/81: 3rd in Division Two

Wimbledon followed a similar route to the top five seasons later. Like Swansea they sandwiched a season where they finished 12th in the second tier in between a run of three straight promotions. Their path from Division Four to Division One was as follows:

1982/83: Won Division Four1983/84: 2nd in Division Three1984/85: 12th in Division Two1985/86: 3rd in Division Two

In the Premier League era we have seen both Fulham and Hull shoot from the bottom league to the Premier League in just six seasons, while Swansea needed eight seasons to complete their climb to the top.

Quickest climbs from fourth tier to top tier:

Team

First Season in Top-Flight

Seasons Needed from Fourth Tier

Swansea

1982

5

Wimbledon

1987

5

Fulham

2002

6

Hull City

2009

6

Northampton Town

1966

6

Watford

1983

6

Luton Town

1975

8

Swansea City

2012

8

Bolton

2012

9

Portsmouth

1988

9

Swindon

1994

9

NO CARDSMartin, loving the stats, keep up the good work. Your column is a must read for me every week. I really hope you can help answer my question. I recently heard that Gary Lineker never received a yellow or red card in his entire career. So this got me wondering, which players have played the most minutes in the Premier League: a) without receiving any booking at all (no yellow or red) b) without receiving a yellow card c) without receiving a red card. I think the results will be quite interesting. Many thanks! Sam B (Arsenal fan)

MARTIN SAYS: Hi Sam. With the help of Opta I have been able to answer your questions and I shall do so in reverse order.

The player to have played the most Premier League minutes without a red card is no stranger to this column. Ryan Giggs has not been sent off in any of his 21 Premier League seasons and that means he's clocked up 45,495 minutes without being sent for an early bath. In fact, he has never received a red card in any league game he has played in. Next on the list is goalkeeper Shay Given, who has played an impressive 39,271 minutes without being sent off - but that's still almost 6,000 minutes fewer than Giggs, who has never been sent off for Manchester United. The only red card of his career came for Wales.

Players to have played the most Premier League minutes without ever receiving a red card:

However, Giggs has been booked 26 times in the Premier League so he is not the answer to your other question. In fact, the man to have clocked up the most Premier League minutes without a booking is former England winger John Barnes. He played 201 times in the Premier League - a total of 16,407 minutes - without a booking (please note these statistics do not include his appearances before the launch of the Premier League in 1992/93).

Players to have played the most Premier League minutes without ever receiving a yellow card (several are goalkeepers):

The list of players who haven't received a card of any colour is almost identical to that above apart from two names. Bizarrely both Michael Oakes and Nigel Spackman both went through their Premier League careers without receiving a yellow card, but they both got red cards; Oakes for Aston Villa against Blackburn on Boxing Day 1998 and Spackman for Chelsea against Arsenal in September 1995.

Players to have played the most Premier League minutes without ever receiving any card:

In the early days, 'having your name taken' - as it was called - was like being called to headmasters' study. It was quite a serious thing. In my non league days I never got booked once. In fact, I did get a yellow card in a London Intermediate Cup game at Cockfosters FC, but the referee never put it in his report so I didn't pay the fine and as far as I'm concerned I never had a booking!

HATFULS OF HAT-TRICKSMartin. Big fan of your column and your commentaries every week on Sky Sports. I am writing to you after Norwich lost 4-0 to Manchester United, including a hat-trick for Kagawa. We seem to have let in a lot of hat-tricks in our short time in the Premier League, including a couple to Luis Suarez. I was wondering if you could tell us which teams have conceded the most hat-tricks in the Premier League years? Paul Gibson (Norwich fan)

MARTIN SAYS: I can tell you that Norwich have conceded a total of SIX hat-tricks in the Premier League, including four in less than two years. They are as follows:

However, that's nothing compared to Southampton who have allowed opposition players to score an incredible 16 hat-tricks in their 14 seasons in the top flight. That's an average of more than one per season. Contrast that with Manchester United who have allowed just two opposition hat-tricks in almost 21 seasons (David Bentley for Blackburn in February 2006 and Dirk Kuyt for Liverpool in March 2011)

The players to have scored hat-tricks against Southampton are listed below. It includes two for Robbie Fowler and two for Arsenal in the same game in 2003 when Jermaine Pennant and Robert Pires both netted trebles in a 6-1 win.

I can recall commentating on an FA Cup replay in 1995 when Ronnie Rosenthal scored a hat-trick for Tottenham against Southampton as a substitute in a 6-2 win (aet). I also think it's fair to point out that they have scored five Premier League hat-tricks (four for Matt Le Tissier and one for James Beattie), but their last one was in October 2002.

Thanks to Opta, here's how many hat-tricks each team has conceded in Premier League history:

THE 20 GOAL MENDear Martin. We're always told that teams are looking to find a 20-goal-a-season striker, but how successful has each team been at doing this over the years. Can you tell us how many 20-goal-a-season strikers each Premier League club has had in the last 20-and-a-bit seasons?Dean

MARTIN SAYS: In Premier League history there have been 53 instances of a player ending a Premier League season with 20+ goals and only 32 individuals have achieved the feat.

The most successful club are Manchester United who have had five 20+-a-season players (Cristiano Ronaldo, Dwight Yorke, Dimitar Berbatov, Wayne Rooney twice, Ruud van Nistelrooy four times). Robin van Persie needs just one more Premier League goal to join that list.

Manchester United have had individuals scoring 20+ goals in nine seasons, a record that can only be matched by Arsenal (Thierry Henry five times, Ian Wright twice, Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie).

It's also worth noting that on Saturday, Luis Suarez became only the third Liverpool player after Robbie Fowler and Fernando Torres to score 20+ goals in a single Premier League season.

And Newcastle and Chelsea are the only two clubs to produce 20+ goal men in the SAME Premier League season. Both Andrew Cole and Peter Beardsley scored 20 league goals in 1993/94 for Newcastle, while both Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard topped 20 goals for Chelsea in 2009/10.

Players to have scored 20+ Premier League goals in one season (by club):